19Jul 2012 by myexracer

At Long Last

OTTB, Saddles and tack
[caption id="attachment_242" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="I can haz saddle?"][/caption] It finally happened, I finally got a saddle that fits my pretty filly! Okay it was during a power outage for all of my regain and me, the boyfriend and the dog were all living in a hotel with AC until our (and hundreds of thousands of others) power was restored. It was also in the middle of a terrible heat wave and my barn was running on generators, so no water (as to reserve the well pump) and no fans for the herd. However the truly awesome people over at Dover decided that they could in fact make the drive from VA to MD for my fitting. (Thanks Melanie you totally rock!) So I met Dover at my barn and tried…
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26Jun 2012 by myexracer

Everyday another ding

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Saddles and tack
[caption id="attachment_235" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Say cheese..err clay"][/caption] A saddle may soon be in my future. I have an appointment next weekend with Dover to come on down to my barn and try saddles on my pretty filly. I have very high hopes that this will be it, that I will get a good fitting saddle and actually begin to ride my horse. These last couple months of ground work and a few injuries have bonded me and my girl, she tests me less and less and behaves more and more. But it will be nice to actually start her under saddle properly.  Now don't get me wrong, Jezebel is chocked full of personality and I like that about her, she's also headstrong and very curious. Also qualities I really like…
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21Jun 2012 by myexracer

Africa Hot

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_228" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="will she or wont she "][/caption] Its hot. It's not just hot it's Africa hot. The heat index makes the 99 degree heat feel like 199 degrees. At least to my southern California Sensibilities. Because it was predicted to be so hot, I decided to head to the barn and spend some time cooling down my pretty filly. I stopped off at the market and picked up some Gatorade. I wasn't sure what flavor Jezebel might be interested in so a picked up a variety and made sure to get the "low cal"  Gatorade which has half the sugar and all the electrolytes. The barn was void of people and  it was sweltering, my filly was standing in front of her fan trying to escape the…
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17Jun 2012 by myexracer

Pennsylvania

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_220" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="AKA Miss Ten Oaks"][/caption] I spent the day in PA at After The Races. The lovely farm I adopted my adorable filly from. It was really nice to hang out with them, they are good folks doing good things with rehabbing and re-homing Thoroughbreds. They have a slew of great horses all in different stages. Some recovering from injuries, some just getting started under saddle and some being let down and getting used to being horses again. It was great to see "Oakley" being worked in the round pen avoiding obstacles and making good decisions. She was the ex racer I originally went to check out way back in Feb. At that time she had been on the farm just a couple weeks and wasn't ready…
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11Jun 2012 by myexracer

Its hot!

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_213" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="No, I will not pose for photos..is that a carrot!? "][/caption] This east coast weather thing is crazy. I come from southern California I'm used to hot, I can handle hot. I am however having trouble with this humidity thing. Egads this isn't hot, this is torture! It's hot enough that the horses are in during the day and out at night now. My filly has her fan so I'm hoping that helps to keep her cool. Our 20 minute lunge routine has been cut in half because its too damn hot to work her hard. I'm not sure how I'm going to get her in shape with only 10 minutes a day of serious work. Sometimes its hard for me to believe she actually was…
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29May 2012 by myexracer

Hoof Hand And Withers

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_208" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Like magic, it just appeared!"][/caption] I've been take a little break from writing as I sliced open my hand pretty bad getting into a fight with the food processor and subsequent infection and course of antibiotics (ack!) Nine finger typing makes things a little more difficult.  Jezebel is much better though, her hoof seems to be healed and I am taking steps to harden it so this abscess thing doesn't become chronic. If it wasn't for the 8 inch mystery scrape on her withers we could resume our saddle hunt. Le sigh, if its not one thing its another. I'm hoping my hand and her withers will heal in sink and then we can get on with the business her retraining. Until then, back to the…
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12May 2012 by myexracer

The thing that wouldnt quit

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_197" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="This is what 600+ bucks looks like"][/caption] I am learning more about hoof abscess then I ever thought I would. My filly is still laid up with hers. I called in the vet last week to check her out since her abscess wants popping and she was pretty ouchy. My vet was able to find the track and pop it. Yay! however there are now concerns about her back left hind hoof. The infection was on the same track as the last abscess though my vet feels its a different infection and not a re0infection due to the amount of time that had passed. So in order to address her susceptibility to the abscess we've done a couple of two day wet wraps to draw out…
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04May 2012 by myexracer

Its back!

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_191" align="alignleft" width="257" caption="Getting checked out"][/caption] When I went to get my pretty filly out of the back field the other day she was slow and sluggish. usually shes bouncy and happy the other day... not so much. At first I figured it was the heat. The sun was shinning hot and the humidity was high. I took her to the field trough and let her drink before I took her in for our daily lunge work out. Standing at the trough she was holding her left hind awkward. She didn't seem to be limping at all but on the sharp turns to get her out of the filed gate she was definitely having trouble with the back left. I had one of the trainers at my barn look…
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21Apr 2012 by myexracer

Walk Trot Trot Walk Repeat

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training
[caption id="attachment_186" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Pretty filly"][/caption] Ground work, ground work , ground work, that's my new theme. Since I have no saddle at the moment I'm focusing on lunging my filly. I've taken to lunging her for 20 minutes a day trying to get her into a routine. I bring her in from the field, groom her, put on her splint boots and caveson and we do 10 minutes in each direction walk to trot, trot to walk, and back again. Our circles are looking less and less like D's and more and more like circles, which I'm pretty pleased about. She is picking up the voice commands but doesn't have them entirely yet. Her trot is often calm and collected which makes me happy, when shes in a groove…
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17Apr 2012 by myexracer

Beyond The Track- Book Review

Book Review, OTTB, Training
[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Step one... read"][/caption] After my really disappointing day a few weeks ago with my filly I decided to read some books. Its something I do a lot. When I get stuck anywhere in life I find a book on the subject, often I find many books on the subject and read and absorb and read and absorb. It's a habit I picked up as a very little girl which also is why I think I can learn and do anything but that's a tale for another day. I bought Beyond The Track by Anna Ford. I couldn't wait for it to get here cursing myself for not paying expedited shipping. When it did arrive I read it immediately, ignoring everything else. I was taking a horse…
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